Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers (CZR) president Denford Mutashu has acknowledged the unjustified price hikes of sugar on the local market.
In a statement issued on April 11, Mutashu said a 2kg packet of sugar is being sold for US$4 instead of the recommended price ranges between US$2.60 (ZIG 33.75) to US$2.80 (ZIG 37.80) for 2kgs of both brown and white sugar.
He said there is a shortage of sugar on the market emanating in part from retailers’ and wholesalers’ failure to access the product from the supplier.
Mutashu urged police and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) to clamp down on traders selling sugar at exorbitant prices. Reads the statement:
CZR speaks on speculative sugar pricing
The Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers has noted with serious concern the speculative pricing of sugar on the local market at the moment.
Recommend retail price ranges between US$2.60 (ZIG 33.75) to US$2.80 (ZIG 37.80) for 2kgs of both brown and white sugar.
The price of sugar is currently sitting at US$4.00 (ZiG54) per 2kgs despite the supplier (ZSS) price not having gone up.
CZR however notes with dissatisfaction the number of widely branch networked retailers and wholesalers struggling to access product supply from the supplier.
This situation must be fixed to reduce seemingly arbitrage pricing in the market emanating from the informal sector.
There are ongoing engagements with Zimbabwe Sugar Sales (ZSS) to ensure supply into formal channel retail and wholesale stabilizes and all delivery backlogs are cleared.
CZR therefore implores the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) Licensing Inspectorate and the RBZ Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) to pounce on all unscrupulous traders selling sugar above the RRP.
It is our duty as the business community to come up with a healthy and sustainable pricing model for the benefit of the nation at large.
